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formality. The interior of these houses usually shows a refinement of finish that, I venture to say, will surprise an ordinary English visitor. It is in their country houses that our American cousins show to greatest advantage ; and the great number of books that have been written upon country life by American authors is worthy of some reflection. Americans, it must be remembered, are an intelligent and quick-adapting race; they are, moreover, fond of travel, and very few there are at the present time who have not made themselves well acquainted with all the notable places on the continent of Europe, and still more diligently have explored all the nooks and byeways of England, as well as the more beaten tracks of travel. I am sure I have learnt more of some of my own counties from American note books than my nationality makes it altogether pleasant to admit, and 1 have found lessons stolen from our own bright happy country homes, and well applied in America. It will not do to imagine Americans dwelling in the bare square boxes that twenty years ago writers described their villages to consist of. Improve ments have been most rapidly introduced, and memories of all that was noteworthy in other countries have been applied on each traveller’s return, so that we have scarcely an advantage, excepting that of greater age over our transatlantic friends. The moderately sized home of an American family is rarely other than an exceedingly comfortable one; and if some oddity of external embellishment provoke a smile, the thorough manner in which the requirements of domestic life have been carried out and provided for deserve praise. The grounds around such houses are generally very attractive. Landscape gardening has many able professors in America, and is a favourite pursuit. The press is full of works on such subjects, whilst magazines deyoted to horticulture, and to all pertaining to life out of doors, are in great demand. Americans, as is well-known, are not fond of out-door pursuits, except that of driving; but there is a very marked improvement in their taste foi - gardening. They are somewhat less inclined to wait the gradual development of artistic ideas than we; and an American home-founder, as soon as he has settled upon where his house is to stand and what it is to be, is generally im patient to see the perfected whole in rapid growth. Levelling, turfing, road-making, and all the mechanical portions of laying- out a country place are pushed forward with most commend able celerity, and the result, in their wonderfully productive climate, is generally in every way satisfactory. They especially excel in their mode of removal of large trees, so that the for mation of plantations is comparatively an easy matter. Their mechanical ingenuity, too, is shown in all practical details by which labour may be saved. I remember, in one instance, where a large extent of lawn had to be provided, the ingenuity of the land steward contrived an impromptu turf-cutting and laying machine, which was most admirable in its practical working. I ought also to remark that in many sanatory arrangements Americans are more generally thoughtful than we are. The small country houses always possess a system of independent ventilation, and the water closets and sinks discharge into cesspools, which invariably have an airduct communicating with the kitchen or furnace flue. In grounds of sufficient size the excreta of the house are carried into tanks, and used for manorial purposes. In all that I remember a liberal water service was arranged and carried all over the building. It -will thus be seen that in all the essentials that in house planning and building go to make a home, Americans deserve to be well spoken of; and that the artistic expression will assume a commendable form in proportion as the canons of art are recognised and respected. Architectural societies may and ehould do much, and it is to be sincerely hoped that the attempt will be to work out principles instead of forms, and that the American architect will strive to learn from the art lessons of the Old World wherein the excellence of their examples con sisted, rather than strive to exactly reproduce what in other climates and under other exigencies the skilful hands of the past contrived. The large houses or mansions of America, such as were built some years ago, more closely followed European types. The plans of many of them, particularly of those erected in the Southern States, were obtained from this side of the Atlantic, and I do not remember anything peculiar or note worthy about any of them, excepting the size of the rooms, and the ample provision of verandahs, colonnades, and other shade affording external features. Now the rich Americans are building mansions of enormous size—hastily built, and not so substantially finished as our own, but -with very costly fittings, especially in plumbing and heating arrangements. Society in America is in a transition state, and, as we all know, it takes more than one generation to mature the finished, har monious family home like that of the English gentleman of wealth and cultivated taste. In one respect our American friends have something to learn from us ;—good as the houses generally are, the adjuncts thereto are not as carefully provided for. The outbuildings are rarely so compactly arranged or decently contrived as may be seen at homeI do not speak of farm buildings and such like, ■which certainly are often large and well contrived, but of the necessary addenda to a country establishment, the stables, laundry, and the like. With us these are very properly made features of the general design, and the result is an appearance of permanency and of self-contained home comfort altogether admirable, as American writers on English country life very cordially testify. The roofs of these country buildings are rarely so much broken up as with us ; the enormous and sudden accumulation of snow in the winter makes builders careful to provide even slopes and unchecked lines of descent, hence valleys and dormer windows and multiplicity of gables are as much as possible avoided ; nor do Americans affect much variety in the way of pinnacle or ridge cresting, although such features as campanili and spirets are common. Towers and observatories are freely used, are generally largo and serve a useful purpose. Many examples occur to me in which the upper room of the tower was sufficiently large to contain a billiard table, and was used for that purpose. The plan of nearly all American country houses affords a wide spread upon the ground ; halls and passages are always wide, and, as before remarked, the rooms are large; the kitchens, &c„ are rarely below the ground level, and the large space of cellarage beneath is occu pied by the heating apparatus, fuel, and the like. In one residence that I remember, after amply providing for all these, there was sufficient space left for an American bowling alley, and in another for a museum of natural history and geology. I trust that tliis brief sketch of recollections of domestic buildings in town and country may serve to show that Americans have made rapid and commendable progress in all that pertains to internal comfort and to the conveniences of practical home life. I have purposely said but little upon the artistic expression of their architecture, partly because without numerous illustrations the subject would be unfairly viewed, and because Americans have scarcely yet reached a positivism in expression sufficient to give their designs individuality. An interesting problem remains for our translantic professional brethren to work out; much progress has undoubtedly been made, and I cannot close without recording my individual belief that it is in her domestic architecture that America may be expected to develope a national style. The Chairman (C. Barry, V.P.), said—Mr. Wheeler has opened to us a subject of great interest; and I have no doubt there are many gentlemen in the room, who, though perhaps not prepared to discuss it at the moment, may wish to ask some questions by which some further information on matters of practical detail may be elicited. In reply to inquiries by the Chairman, Professor Donaldson, and other gentlemen, Mr. Whbbler stated that the usual height of the floor in ordinary houses was—on the ground floor, 13 feet; and in the bed rooms never less than 11 feet. The family washing was almost universally done at home, hence the complete arrangements in every house for that pur pose. In reference to the statement that the dining or living room of the family was on the same floor with the kitchen, with convenient communication with that apartment, Mr. Wheeler remarked, that as dining was not so much an institution in America as with us, the living room was always on the same floor as the cooking apartment. They went down stairs to it, and the cellars were below that. The principal advantage in this arrangement was, perhaps, in the saving of labour to the servants; and it gave a large and open suite of rooms above for social purposes. Another reason for that arrangement was, the owners of the houses were generally engaged in business in the city during the day, and there being great difficulty in getting servants, the family were desirous of having the domestic arrangements of the house as much as possible under their control. When the owner of